wijnands Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Just wondering... these days most if not all of the new tool kits are excellent but why is Airfix persisting in supplying truly terrible pilot figurines with them? If all were're getting is Mr. Blobby then I personally would rather see some seatbelts on the decal sheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidJC Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 I wonder if that's down to limitations of moulding even nowadays. Although I have seen passable figures elsewhere, the human form is complex and difficult to capture accurately at the best of times and by the time you've scaled down even a real person, with his/her subtle curves and the like, to 1/72 you're not going to be left with much at all, even with clothing on the figure. I don't know, but, my guess would be that to ensure the figurine has features, they are going to have to be produced 'out of scale' so that by the time they are moulded, they will at least have a nose and a forehead and some sort of mouth. I reckon that is not easy to get right. You only need one minute detail to be wrong and it throws the whole thing out. I guess the other consideration is, do we want Airfix to spend disproportionate amounts in getting the pilot character right (which is likely to be hidden behind a mask or the cockpit anyway), or producing a more accurate kit it's sitting in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wijnands Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 It can be done in 1/72. I got a bandai x-wing fighter pilot that looks amazing and I got something that's recognizable as a human with a 1966 vintage Revell kit. I'd say Airfix either put in an effort and produce something recognizable or just give up and add some seatbelts to the decal sheet./media/tinymce_upload/8818786aad7f86e28b9fa372aebfc9dd.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidJC Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 From my own point of view (only), I think I'd rather Airfix spent the money on an accurate kit without its pilot(s) rather than diverting funds to including the pilot(s) which can, after all, be obtained elsewhere should one choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vimal_indrasoma Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Personally, I'd rather have an empty seat than have a pilot who appears to be fiddling with himself ... I've been putting Revell Luftwaffe crew into most of the kits I've built recently./media/tinymce_upload/f83dae1e08eb16d16af0a2da85fb07ce.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Mock Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 As I don't use them, it doesn't reallty bother me. And I have spares box full of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discostu Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Got the new tool Lancaster dambuster for Christmas. On inspection of the sprues,I reckon I'll build the Lanc sans pilot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
since the 60s Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Personally having spent £60 on the Victor and previously the Valiant I would prefer to have pilots included. Why go to the expense of providing interiors and decals and then no crew. OK if you prefer higher accuracy then buy after market, but that can be said for most parts of any model nowadays. Would you leave out the undercarriage because there are higher accurcy more fragile parts available as after market? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Atcliffe Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 I have to agree with since_the_60s: I want full crews for all aircraft, and decently sculpted and moulded ones, too! This business of 'why bother with a crew when the money could be spent on making a better kit' is, to me, completely backwards; why bother going to all the effort and expense of making an excellent kit of an aircraft -- you know, a flying machine? -- and then insist it be built parked on the ground, immobile? Crews used to be something that Airfix were known for, but lately the company seems to be falling into the same mindset that regards them as unnecessary as other manufacturers, and this is not good at all. It's doubly ironic that, in an era when box paintings are back to the standard of Roy Cross and co., it is now almost impossible to model the subject of a kit as depicted in flight.No, crew figures should be considered as equally important as the other details that mark a kit out as a worthy example of the manufacturer's work. They should be included -- all of them: pilots, gunners, observers, bomb-aimers, navigators, RIOs, WSOs, etc. -- and they should be correctly sculpted for the aircraft involved. If Airfix can spend time, effort and expense on getting every detail of an aeroplane correct, both inside and out, why can't they do it for the people without whom it's a lifeless lump of metal (UAVs notwithstanding, of course)? Put them on a separate sprue if necessary -- and, of course make the kit able to be made without them, just as details like landing gear, flaps, airframes, etc., should all have optional parts for extended and retracted positions -- but don't just leave them out, and make the effort to get them right, especially when a licensed property is involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsides Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Full crew well done count me in, I would like seperate sets of crew figures inflight if not included in kits.... 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comet4 Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 I have a box load of spare pilots/aircrew and they get moved around into all sorts of aircraft. Some of the early ones are a lot lot worse than todays offerings, (though I was surprised when I discovered that Airfix had supplied a WW2 pilot with a Harrier kit a while ago!) I always put pilots at the very least in my aircraft from 1/72 scale upwards. I also do other things with aircrew, eg, one of the Gunners on my Catalina is sitting reading a book! His oppo was taking his gun apart on the cabin floor! On my S-25 Hythe I have a stewerdess serving coffee to the Flight Engineer. In other aircraft I've had to amputate lower legs and bums to get them to fit at times, but they always get there!/media/tinymce_upload/828955bb64527a43686f01df70f3429c.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I have a box load of spare pilots/aircrew and they get moved around into all sorts of aircraft. Some of the early ones are a lot lot worse than todays offerings, (though I was surprised when I discovered that Airfix had supplied a WW2 pilot with a Harrier kit a while ago!) I always put pilots at the very least in my aircraft from 1/72 scale upwards. I also do other things with aircrew, eg, one of the Gunners on my Catalina is sitting reading a book! His oppo was taking his gun apart on the cabin floor! On my S-25 Hythe I have a stewerdess serving coffee to the Flight Engineer. In other aircraft I've had to amputate lower legs and bums to get them to fit at times, but they always get there!/media/tinymce_upload/828955bb64527a43686f01df70f3429c.jpgREADING A BOOK, TAKING HIS GUN APART!!!!I think there are a couple of aircrew about to be put on a charge, surely their weapons should be ready at a moments notice while on patrol, and they should be scanning the horizons? Joking apart, I think your aircraft really come to life with your animated crew members. Keep it UpJason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuffing Billy Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 How much extra would crew figures cost ? A few pounds for two or three figures, maybe £10 for a full Lancaster creww . Just put them in, or make them available seperately, but just make them - PLEASE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAAMAN Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 I have to agree, any aircraft model without a crew is a lifeless lump (drones excluded, although I'm WHIFFING an X-47 so it has crew and twin engines) and I really can't understand the decisions being made by manufacturers to not include them, and when they do include crew they are either innapropriate or poorly kitted out and overall are really are poor representations of crewies. But then look at the detailing "exclusions" that are in the new Airfix F-4K, plus it had no crew no crew!!!All my builds have crew, no matter the scale, some scratchbuilt, some modified, never crewless!!!!I don't think scale is an issue in producing reasonably accurate crew figures as back in 1962 we got this from Revell in the worst P-51D ever released in 1/72nd,/media/tinymce_upload/d5885f46f7711bba2c448671be99460c.jpgPainted up,/media/tinymce_upload/36d1e6f400828e55d90a9277de00a4e3.jpgWith a cople of hours work I modified the quite nice Matchbox 1930's pilot figure into a civilian test pilot wearing early Luftwaffe High Altitude gear to occupy the cockpit of a 1/72 scale MPM Focke Wulf 190 prototype, the one on the left is unmodded,/media/tinymce_upload/2581081d6b2ee95f5223102408f550ae.jpgAnd in his Fw's cockpit,/media/tinymce_upload/5fdaafcb36d4eb33bdad5e177934a15c.jpgSo, if I can do the above, what's Airfix's excuse??No accurately rendered crew figures supplied = Just plain lazyness by manufacturers 🫨 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.